The situation in the fortress is somewhat dire. The murderous beetle still flies around the caverns, eager to find something to kill. Despite all the time it has spent wandering near the dumping shaft, the forgotten beast has not yet tried to enter the shaft. Most of the dwarves are tired of dumping stuff day and night. at this point they've mostly stopped using the shaft. They've also stopped having stuff to dump. there's a correlation there. Orders are to craft random things and resume dumping only when Fensast the beetle is near the shaft's bottom.

A new foe has appeared, and this one the mayor cares much more about. Enure the leech is slow, and injured, and it's brain is a rotting pile of dead tissues. Yet, should it gather the brainpower to randomly attack something, it could forever break the generator.

The mayor will not have that. The generator is her life's work, her greatest achievement, and it holds together the hopes and dreams of every citizen. From the very day that they started making high-quality furnitures, people became happy and talked to her less about problems. If they stop making obsidian, everyone will feel sad and bored and also annoyed that every single animal in the fort keeps dying horribly.

Thankfully, Squiddwarf is an old an competent miner, and he's working the best he can to expand the reservoir and allow the water stuck there to dry. This will take a lot of time. The other dwarves don't wanna go there.

Dumat has allowed a young peasant to kickstart a textile industry. He's busy dyeing every thread, cloth, and tissue in the fortress. Other peasant were told to convert plants into threads, and some threads into cloth rolls. Should the fortress need to be sealed from the exterior as well, they'll have a source of new cloths. What's more, having pimped and colorful higher quality could be pretty cool. the mayor isnt very into fashion, but wearing leftovers from slaughtered members of the passionate sins is becoming dull. She actually hates her ''I♥PS'' shirt.

Apparently, people going insane may be related to not having a trade depot. another group of merchants give up on life. The mayor doesn't care about random merchants going mad. especially not elves. Still, Dumat has required a new depot to be built...

Elves or not, goblins on the dwarven territory is bad news. Drokles dispatch some troops to deal with them. The instant the soldiers are south fighting the first ambush, a second ambush appears to the west! Curses, some dwarves are outside gathering clothes and random items for future dumping emergencies!

Two more ambushes are spotted! Every soldier is now on duty, busy protecting the fortress, as well as chasing a kidnapper that's lurking around the back entrance. Kel is doing fine, but the rest of the troops are having a hard time evacuating all the civilians before it's too late...

A fifth ambush happens and the first one isn,t even half-dead yet. Goblins are getting smarter. This is turning into a full-sized siege, with none of the prior warnings associated with one. This time the goblins are going straight for the main entrance, and the wall is unmanned. Only two ex-cooks are there to defend. Go, Firsal!

A child wanders by. trying to escape the goblins. Another ambush is sprung, cutting any reinforcements. Two dwarves are not enough to keep 6 goblins busy. The child is torn to pieces by the unengaged goblins.

The army struggles to stick together in safe formations. Asmel would have single-handedly murdered every goblin on the map. but Asmel is dead. Kel is a great warrior, but nowhere close to what the warrior-princess was. She has a hard time delaying the flow of goblins from the south. They have regrouped into an actual army, marching toward the fort and shooting at civilians. The hammerer is assaulted by an elf, of all people. An elf! Working with the goblins! Never trust elves. The hammerer is struck various times by a greatsword, and starts bleeding profusely. This isnt the first time he's foolishly wandered into the site of a battle, and he defends himself decently given his absolute lack of armor. Usthuth's favorite thing is to hunt down every single fish, monster or animal on the continent despite being forbiden to, so he always carries a crossbow with him. as the elf's shots are blocked using the weapon, the hammerer strikes back, and shoots the elf in the leg, tripping him. Time to escape!

The new law-giver shows up, and stumbles upon the mayor. ''We have much to discuss'', he claims. No, really. Is it about the army-sized ambushes you navigated to get here, or the various monsters clawing their ways through our megaprojects? ''No, it's about the new trade depot. I really like the new obsidian floor, and the fact that the depot is entirely made of gold. Oh, and I'm so glad you decided to remove the corpse of my predecessor that was on display for the last decade!''

the water is slowly spreading, and some more dwarves could join in on the digging, but nobody is, because everyone is apparently outside getting murdered by goblins or whatnot. What do they think this is, a game? The generator is going to die!

...Oh and pay no attention to the horrific growls coming from everywhere, ever. the caverns are very safe. The bangings against the pipes are just a feature. dwarven engineering is strange that way. You'd knew if you weren't a stupid woodcarving elf-lover.

Still, the situation in the caverns is becoming... rather unpleasant. Blood and strange substances are filling the giant underwater lake. the mayor wonders, even if they were to save the machinery from the leech, how long before some other creature finds its way into the pipes? Or worse, before some strange disease leaks into the reservoir? They'll need to create giant stockpiles, and store lots of obsidian there. Run the generator nonstop. Sooner or later, it will break for good...

One of the bleeding creature is still doing entirely fine. It has leaked a hundred gallons of blood into the lake, and its health is back to normal. That doesn't bode well for anyone trying to kill it. Which is nobody, because fuck those caverns man.

the 4 floodgates are linked together, and work in unison. there is no time, nor any path, to change this right now. The plan is to reverse the generator, flood the chamber with some water, and then magma the whole thing. Before this can happen, some water must be drained into the generator and evaporated. there's just too much of it. If the water overflows, the magma will fuck the whole thing. There's no point in activating it fully if the leech isnt inside either.

The floodgates open, then close immediately, a few times. Water in the pipes is at half level. Once this batch runs dry, the leech should be poured into the reservoir and obsidian'd like a boss!

The giant leech will have none of it. Enure had been passive until now, and we believed it too brain-rotten to attack in full force, but all of a sudden, it lunges, breaks the inner floodgates, then start swimming back into the pipe with sudden speed.

Water leaks into the generator with affluence. The eastern pipe is slowly emptying. There is nothing to do now, but wait for it to drain. we can't get in there because of the leech, and we can't fix it because of the current.

One of the dwarves operating on rovod day and night has finally reached a high level of profficiency in surgery. Surgeon shall now be his main title, which hopefully will save more lives in the future. Rovod is not doing any better, but somehow his continued existence gives hope to the civilians, in the face of the pet-plague.

Dumat uses what's left of their obsidian stockpiles to begin some improvements on the hospital floor. The sand walls will be upgraded, and so will the sand patches leading to the well. ''What's the point of a 40 000 bucks well if it's sitting in the mud?'' he claims. The project won't be completed, as they are short on blocks. Once the water drains, they'll have to send a team to patch the pipeline. hopefully, the leech can be killed. The empty pipe should allow the militia to engage it efficiently...

in the meantime, the idle dwarves have no obsidian to mine, and no items to dump. Work is resumed, and crafts are ordered. The soap industry is also rebooted, as keeping Rovod alive has drained most of their reserves.

...Before this. Just as a team of soldiers is about to assault the pipeline, Enure bashes the second floodgate open, and tear it appart. the pipe fills with water once more, repelling the army. going to face the beast is a death sentence. the second they turn the corner, they'll get webbed and begin to drown horribly.

It is to late to kill enure, the mayor knows. But not to save the generator. for that, they need to seal the pipe. The generator can work on three pipes, if a bit less efficiently. Someone has to go in there, swim against the current, and build some walls.

Tun's demands are once again ill-timed. The masons want to help, but... They know what awaits those who fail to produce the querns in time. Most of them scatter toward the workshops to meet the deadline.

The few leftover masons try to fix the pipe, once, but quickly give up the constructions. 4 walls must be created. Two to patch the pipe, but... only one section could be designated for building: The first one. Every other patch was too full with water. If those walls are cancelled, they cannot be designated again. That also means that once the first one is completed, there will be no space available to build the second one from. That means two more sections must be built in the reservoir, so that people can stand on them and finish the plug.

''Not so fast!'' yells an elderly voice. It is that of manager Stukos, who has been spending most of his time in the lower levels since his son died to defend them. When everyone left, he took it upon himself to finish the work. for two days now, he has been swimming in the reservoir, resuming work a hundred time as soon as the current pushes him away. He succeeds in creating the bottom walls. the hardest and deadliest part is still ahead of him. Water is rising in the reservoir, and the current is growing more intense each moment, as the pipe fills slowly from the underwater lake.

''Immortal-D gave his life to defend us from whatever lurks in these caves! I will not his work be discarded like that! No, I will not let a monster deny us this last bit of cavern!''

...It is done. manager Stukos has prevailed, just in time. the pipe is forever sealed, and Enure the leech retreats to the lake, resuming its drifting. The generator is saved. ''when... when the cloths are done, I want the coolest hat!'' he jokes, still spitting out gallons of water between two breaths.

The dwarves celebrate by creating a new piece of jewelry, celebrating the death of a now-legendary elf. A giant beetle still lurks below, and enure the leech has escaped its doom. However, the generator lives on thanks to the heroic efforts of their manager. The dwarves of Whispwerwhip celebrate this small victory, for hope and celebration are growing sparse over the years. Still, the forgotten beasts tried to claim part of the fortress, but the dwarves denied them. Whisperwhip still belongs to the Wilted sack, and as long as...

Thanks a lot for those, and welcome aboard! I used to draw the beasts as they appeared, but then there were so many that I stopped, unless it was a fort-shattering encounter. It's fun to see faces put on the various aberrations that lurk underneath Whisperwhip.

I'm a bit booked for now, but in the upcoming weeks I'll try to add a ''Forgotten beasts of Whisperwhip'' to the main post, with links to the various monster pictures.

Not as much as magma can be. I say that because the magma generator has been activated, and Zefon just won't leave. Maybe you want to move out of the way before the burning wave of death gets to you, Zefon?

Well, Zefon just commited suicide. She had been with us since before the skypig incident, and now she's simply... gone. She burns, slowly, brightly, like the hopes she had of living a happy life by moving to this fortress. Alas, everyone she ever loved have died over the years, often in gruesome fashions. Quula herself, goddess of death and tragedy, has gazed upon the place they call Whisperwhip, and it shook her very soul. Zefon is a mere dwarf, and no deity. She cannot take it anymore, and so she simply let herself be devoured by magma. She had no reason to be there, her squad is not allowed to patrol anywhere near BASE1. She was alone when she met her end.

I watch Zefon's demise as it unfolds, and within moments nothing remains of her, save for her military equipment. she was carrying some of the best gear known to the fortress, decorated high-quality steel garments, including her prized shield. They float there for a moment, but soon enough the reservoir fills, and they melt like their former owner. In a few months, the dwarves will use this cooled lava and carve blocks of them, unaware that within them lie the remains of their old friend. Zefon will soon be once with the earth, one with the fortress. I remember her spending a lot of time in the temple of Kadol, goddess of mountain and fortresses. Maybe she is happier now...

I muse over the dwarven afterlife, until I notice something peculiar. A gigantic wave of magma mist erupts from where Zefon once stood, and traverses the reservoir. further inspection reveal that it is actually made of... boiling dog blood clouds. This fortress never ceases to weird me out.

Back in her office, the mayor is working on the generator's updates, unaware of the tragedy it is housing. With one of the pipes down, it makes no sense to keep the reservoir's shape unchanged. water will take forever to cool down the top and east patches of lava. Once this activation is complete, she leaves a note to the miners. Don't channel those parts anymore. They won't fill with magma, so the dwarves won't have to wait until water reaches the farthest corners of the generator.

A few days pass, and people slowly notice that Zefon is missing. After a week, they decide to create a slab to honor her presumed passing. little do they know, they'll be carving the memorial from the very remains of the one they seek to commemorate. Dark irony shall not be the only thing to decorate this slab. The statues are moved upstairs by the various iddlers, freeing the furniture stockpile. The slab is created and placed there, where a nearby craftdwarf workshop will decorate it with the shell of Galka, an older forgotten beast slain over a decade ago.

The generator is excavated, with the top right corner being left untouched. Next time it's turned on, I'll make sure to note where exactly the water flows immediately, and which spots it fails to reach quickly.

As I begin engraving the memorial to Zefon, I notice that the son of Drokles has raised from the dead as an angry ghost. This is very strange, especially because I don't recall said son dying, ever.

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To celebrate the new year, Droklesson finishes an earring, which frankly is amazing, if absolutely useless. it features dying elves, giant monsters, and the artefact throne presiding over the temple to Kadol. at least the son of our new commander has a bright future as a craftdwarf. Assuming he survives...

Those were the last words I typed about Droklesson. He just finished an artefact. I know a child died this year, but i know it wasn't Droklesson, the kid was alive and well very recently, and I received no messages about his death, nor did the number of dwarves go down, up until zefon a few minutes ago.

As I read back to make sure I'm not going crazy or making dumb mistakes, I can't help but shiver when I control-f the last thing i said about the kid '''At least the son of our new commander has a bright future as a craftdwarf. Assuming he survives...'' It was meant as a joke, a mere storytelling device meant to keep readers on their toes. ''Everyone could die, people'' was the message here. And then suddenly I notice the kid is actually dead.

Then, just like he appeared, I'm told the ghost of Droklesson has been put to rest. I did nothing, ordered no slabs. i know this because i was carefully managing the decoration of exactly one slab, that of Zefon, as it was being adorned with shells and bones. No slab was ordered for Droklesson. His ghost vanished forever just like he came to be: Unexplained, with none of my knowledge or involvement. What is going on here...?

Thank armok, there's a siege. It's been so long. The army isn't what it used to be, but it can hold goblins just fine when the wall is manned... erhm, dwarfed. Strange ghosts, happy dwarves commiting suicide and esotheric waves of blood magma erupting out of the blue, I can't deal with, but sieges I understand.

I browse through the burrows, as I don't want people to waste time and go idle when i raise the alarm. The first floor, for example, is not properly updated, as it doesn't include the new stockpiles. For reasons unknown part of the dorms/sweatshops aren't either, nor are some halves of the staircases on some floor. Sloppy. Sometimes i wonder just how many mistakes I've made like that, that went unoticed, slowly gnawing away on the fort's efficiency. At least this one is resolved.

Avengers assemble! I want the best squad downstairs, keeping the doorway safe. I ask them to wait in the trade depot, as putting them too close to the entrance means they'll spot people, run off outside, and get shot by like 70 archers. Everyone else gets to dwarf the wall.

I grimace for an instant when the two most eager defenders are punched aside by the marauding trolls. They stumble down the ramps, and are briefly stunned. thankfully, they are well trained, and get back on their feet to clean the mess. Even if trolls charge the inner gate, most of the army can shoot at them from the walls while they try and force their way through. Whisperwhip doesn't have doors or bridges or anything to guard the main entrance 9shame on you, cage spammers) but even minotaurs cannot force their way through when the army is mobilized there. now, the trolls are dead, and we wait for the rest of the army. The main squad retreats inside. Begin the sniper fight!

Here's a fact about Zasit. Zasit is a badass. He enters a trance, and fend off most of the attackers, while everyone else gets off the walls to charge. The goblins are massacred on our doorstep. I smile. Not because I'm proud of the dwarves, even tho I definitely am. But everyone dying on the porch means we get to safely celebrate a new clothsgiving this year!

a few stragglers were left behind, and the army charge at them. They escape when they see the full might of Whisperwhip exiting the fortresses' gates. Less clothes to carry from across the map, i suppose...

I take a quick look at zasit, to see how many enemies he managed to cleave in his martial trance, when... Holy crap, Zasit has a lot of kills under his belt. He was one of the dwarves who moved to Whisperwhip in 102, shortly after the civil war decimated most of the fort. In truth, he was already a decent soldiers, dispatched by the queen to secure the outpost from itself. he arrived alongside the late Lady Asmel, his grandmother.

there are a lot of dwarves in Whisperwhip, and i can't understand each and everyone's connections or perks until they are pointed out to me by the game. I had no idea Zasit had become such a baller over the years. For a moment, I hesitate on whom to give the title of champion. Kel is the sister of a main character, so it made sense to give her the title when Asmel died. Now, seeing zasit's profile and history makes me doubt. before I hastily switch some nobility spot, i decide to inspect the fortress for some more over-the-top heroes.

I thus stumble upon another Asmel. This one has a bit less kills than Zasit (like 120 or so) but they include one of the original titans that roamed the continent in the first years. when such a beast tried to murder the infighting dwarves in 102, Asmel was the one to murder it, as our initial hero Olin Bookdeer had just starved herself in her bedroom to avoid witnessing the carnage. His kill count is absurd, he has been with us through the worst period of the fort, and he has noteworthy kills, despite being a nobody. Angry Asmel, as i immediately name him, is also worthy of being our champion. I call him angry, because he fucking hates a lot of different nations.

At the end of this chapter, I will make a poll, and let people decide on whom shall be our true champion. Kel has ties to the previous general, and she is a dashing beastslayer who vanquished little foes, but her kills were epic. Zasit is overall a killing machine who gives zero fucks, in addition to being the previous champion's grandson. Angry Asmel has been there all along, kicking butts left and right. Plus, he's also named Asmel like the previous champion.

* * *

The next months go by without much trouble. everyone is busy, everyone has a cool job to do, and nothing really happens. The gneiss tower is expanded as we are running out of storage for our food. Slowly but surely I'm turning the peasants into artisans, each in charge of slowly building the missing industries. Glassmaker, dyer, weaver, miller...

Curious to see what is going on with the main characters, I decide to check on their skills. The game runs in the background, while I use dwarf therapist to get a better look at our protagonists, nobles and named alike. discovering the hero that is zasit got me curious, and i want to know who those dwarves I'm writing about are. I'm assuming some of you are also curious about your dwarves as well, so here goes!

Speaking of which... Whisperwhip's manager is Immortal-D's father, and sadly outlived his son. Despite being primarily an organiser, he used his very rusty masonry skill to save the generator by almost drowning himself. Some would say he knew the pipelines better than anyone after he inadvertantly locked himself inside them a while ago...

Here's Zasit, one of our candidate for the title of champion. He's a great fighter, but remember that the fortress is over three decades old, so some legendary skills across the board are the norm rather than the exception.

Ustuth the hammerer, I find out, is actually a chick just like the mayor. She was once a simple fisherdwarf, until the population dropped so low that I had no use for more food-gatherers. instead, i named her hammerer, as to help with the overwhelming amount of criminals and the lack of jails. Her description paints her as a sort of crazy daredevil, which I found out is definitely true. Since she can't bash people in the face for crimes, she instead spend her time hunting, or butchering, or fishing, or shooting things, critters and forgotten beasts alike. Being mauled various times has done nothing to lessen her bloodthirsty thrills, and every time something dire is happening, you can be sure Ustuth is nearby, ready to get in trouble.

tun was once a hunter turned briefly chief assassin, before his quad was dismissed due to being mostly all killed during training against live targets. Now he just acts as the leader of the citadel of clutches in absence of the queen, since Whisperwhip has become the capital. In case you didn't know, Tun has a certain interest for querns. he actually likes them a lot. Surprise, his highest skills include miller.

SkaiaMechanic, your dwarf is, well, less than remarkable. Still, the engineers of Whisperwhip are all a strange lot. Or a dead lot. Being part of the former group instead of the latter is actually a great thing, regardless of how weird and incompetent one may be.

Mutkath was the leader of the qQueensguard, until he misplaced the queen he was guarding. now he's in charge of the magical Glove, which is a fancy way of saying he trains cooks on how to stab goblins. Still, it's a better fate than ending up dead in a foreign alleyway.

They have the same first name, but this one is the Bronze general. He still leads the ferocious tools, or what's left of them, but many years spent hauling corpses, deciphering cryptic doom prophecies and learning the truth about the royal family from Lady Asmel has made him... unfit for command. So has the death of most of his men. Nowadays he mostly keep to himself. like many in Whisperwhip, his very soul has been crushed into dust over the years.

Mistem was once a brave soldier and goblin killer, until Rifi's curse got hold of her eyesight, as it did with most of her squad. She is blind, and hates her life half the time, but she is dutiful and helps train new recruits. Her efficiency on the battlefield is less than great, but then again there's nothing else she can do around the fort either.

The chief medical Engineer was responsible for turning most of the soldiers into super-warriors by pouring troll blood in the water supply. His wife is a true monster in battle, thanks to various... experiments. He doesn't talk about it much. Over the years, he's been a good advisor to the overseers, altho his dedication to his medical role is less than strong. he mostly let his apprentices do the work, so much that they have surpassed him. But honestly? If my workplace was constantly full of deadly diseases and miasma I'd be playing golf all day too.

The mayor has no friends, despise social interactions, and prefers to tinker or watch things burn slowly. despite this atrocious display of aspergher, she has been re-elected mayor for 30 years, except for a brief moment when a magical tiger took over her office. the tiger then became suicidal and resigned, navigating the dark hallways aimlessly ever since. the mayor designed most of the cage systems, the bridges, and the obsidian generator, helped by her lazy assistant other Mebzuth, aka SkaiaMechanic.

Bookkeeper led is an acountant, but also a dutiful soldier. He has little combat experience, but he has been training eagerly over the last few decades. He has been a faithful assistant to the Bronze general during his time as overseer, despite enjoying none of it.

Kel, the modest goals, is the Bronze general's sister. she is one of the most succefful beastslayer this fort has known, and her willingness to sacrifice herself against deadly monsters is matched only by her baffling survival against said monsters. For her glorious victories over the forces of darkness, she was named Champion after Asmel's death, despite her lack of experience in facing goblins.

Just like his father, young Immortal-d the second is well loved in the fort thanks to his friendliness. Inspired by the stories about his father, whom he never met, he already strives for excelence and seeks to become a great man. Born almost 9 month after his father tragically passed away, some murmur that he is actually Immortal-D himself born again.

Proud, dutiful, and also striving for excelence, this is how most would describe Firsal. For many years, he was responsible for providing food to the soldiers, until the fort ran low on soldiers and way too high on food. On that day he began training in the Magical Gloves, quickly becoming one of the best new recruits. Some agree that in time, he may well become a squad leader.

Now the new general, Drokles is pessimistic and has a dark view of life. Despite all that, she has grown into a tremendously badass dwarf over the years. Her mental stats are matched only by her mastery of basically every single weapon known to dwarfkind.

Atir and Aban are the 2 last militia captains. They are good leaders, and despite never taking the spotlight of this story, they have always served me efficiently, leading their tropps to victory and defending the fort against goblins. they live in the shadows, unnoticed but essential.

Those two squares are bothering me. they are sand patches, over which lie either a mechanism, or a boulder. Both spaces were once covered in a stockpile that was removed. Building over them wont work. Dumping the stuff on them never happens. Channeling there doesn't work. Anyone has an idea? This is driving me insane.

as i said, for many months, live in the fort breezes by, with everyone going at their job like little bees. Eventually, some guy is taken by a fey mood. He claims a craftdwarf workshops, and the worst ingredients ever. right off the bat, I know I'm in for something underwhelming.

Surprise, a earring! Again! When it comes to being disappointed, i am definitely not disappointed. I guess I'll have to use gems and bones to create my own artifacts, really. Sadly, most of the mining areas are unavailable to us, what with the thousand forgotten beasts plaguing the caverns. The second layer is half-explored at best, and I know many flyers reside there. digging foolishly to grab more ressources could too easily open a breach to the depths. I have heard of adamantium, yet i am destined never to gaze upon it. How sad. there are so many gem clusters waiting in the subteranean complex...

Then I spot it. fensast, the stupid fucking beatle. For far too long the dwarves have been keeping him at bay by dumping trash relentlessly. We can no longer afford to discard everything we have. thankfully, the beast seems rather dumb, and even after it spotted the shaft, never used it. It is, after all, a beetle. beetles aren't smart, man. It mostly wanders around, aimless, like our depressed magical tigerman diagnoser.

fuck this beetle tho. I,m tired of checking on it every 5 minutes, just to know wether or not it is safe not to employ most of my workforce toward dumping. there it is, right across the raised bridge. we are ending this. we will send soldiers, shoot it many times, and retreat. Other creatures can't cross the chasm. You, kid, deconstruct this wall. Drokles, get your buddies down here. We are ending this Beetlecunt.

The wall is breached, and the army waits by the catapult, but Fensast the beetle is still dumb as bricks. It barely sees the squad, and wanders down the hole in the northern cavern. Ugh. We wait, in case it comes back. I don't want to stay here too long, tho, as maybe some other monsters aren't as stupid as Fensast. Some of them have ranged attacks. but Fensast is so close! It could very well turn around and get in range of our crossbows.

Bingo! It goes down, turn left, run around a huge stone formation and return in the familiar triangular room, at the left end of which lies the raised bridge, and our army. It is flying over the ground, apparently right out of crossbow range. I wish people would just shoot it. They are getting hungry, and annoyed. This is the best chance we'll ever get. I'm about to do something incredibly stupid.

You. Pull the bridge lever.

I send the squad across the bridge, and tell them to attack Fensast. they don't react. I move them closer, and closer. Go! What are you waiting for? Now is your chance! 4 of them wander off back to base. Of the four left, I realise, three of them forgot to bring any bolts. those are our elite soldiers, in our most dire moments.

And as they lay right under our most dreaded enemy, ready to strike the killing blow, they realise they forgot to bring any bolts.

Out of the shadow, north of us, appears a new foe, bugsit the antlion. We must retreat now. What ill timing! we had one chance to kill the beetle and you guys blew it by being morons. Quick, across the bridge. Our thin window of opportunity is gone.

Three of the four soldiers cross the bridge. i order it raised. Behind are left zasit... and the child he stayed to escort. A hero as always. Then appears Abe, another of the cavern resident, bouncing near zasit. the child escapes, as Zasit stays to hold them off.

And then, blocking all escapes, within second of the antlion and abe showing up, comes Tofi, also prowling into battle. Upon seing all those monsters working together ambushing us, I realise the true nature of fensast. for it is not a stupid beetle wandering aimlessly. It can fly and it knows it can enter the fortress at any time. the reason he made circles around the shaft and our troops without attacking was not because it was too dumb to do it. Fensast is not the braindead creature I mistook it for, for it knows a single forgotten beast could never bring ruin to this fortress. Fensast isn't a moron.

It is the bait.

...I whisper, shaking, slowly realising what is truly happening. I know i am done for. There is no time to seal the caverns, and they are all rushing in. This is the end.

I order every single soldier to the bridge. Bring crossbows, I murmur almost to myself. but i know most of them are sleeping, and unequipped, and too far away. I will get as many as i can to hold them off, then seal the fortress in two.

Between the moment I unpaused after the new beast arrived, to the moment i paused again after the two other monsters ambushed us, maybe 20 seconds took place. This was almost instantaneous. The fortress has been doomed in an instant. I order the place sealed in the middle, and everyone downstairs. from then on, there is nothing more i can do but hpe the soldiers can hold off the full fury of the underworld long enough. whatever happens, something somewhere will curse them all. there are too many syndromes. defeated or victorious, they are not coming back.

Decrypting this will be a mess, but i do it. I piece out every single combat log to understand what the shit happened in that moment of overkill. Let me recap where every beast i can see on the map is first.

Three of them have rushed from the north, then tried to go around. Tofi was the first to get there, but in the heat of the moment, one of them started secreting something, and something else started bleeding, and something else died from it. they are all allied, but that doesn't mean that they can survive each other's attacks when moving incredibly too close to each other for confort. One down. Mebzuth is still alive, and is trying to avoid the deadly shit left around by going through the river. 'Racoon wants some dwarf is what I'm saying.

Quamund and hum... whatever this is called are in the lower caverns. The last picture shows just how annoying the situation is down there. we can't move easily because of water and fungi, and most of it is unexplored. there are more monsters there than i can see on my list.

Meanwhile the newcomer is coming toward us, and is pretty close to where Mebzuth the racoon is.

There were 24 dead beasts when I unsealed the bridge about a minute of gameplay ago. Now there are three more. One died from being too eager to join his two friends in a narrow corridor full of deadly stuff and deadly blood. What about the others?

Zasit was alone, and cornered. fensast was further back, above them all. Tofi was nearby, and Abe was cutting his escape. As they see him, all of them unleash their superpowers at Zasit. Zasit backflips and dodge them all, by jumping into the southern pit where he now lies. basically all three fire at a dwarf in the middle who jumps out of the way. tofi is torn in bits by a wae of energy. Abe is knocked out and into the bridge hole, and hits the wall. Because the caverns are weird, Zasit as a clear shot, and shoots Abe three times while they are both falling, before hitting the ground and passing out.

He back-flipped and killed two forgotten beast mid-air while willingly jumping into a pit. No poll. This guy is the new champion.

The army is still rushing downstairs. I cancel the bridge-raising order cancelled. We are no longer going to our doom.

Madness. The fort is in chaos. First the army is called downstairs, then people are ordered to seal the bridges. Then the bridges are not being closed, but every woodcutter and miner is summoned to BASE!... What is happening??

Zasit has repelled the initial ambush against the fort, but now... his weapons and shield lay at the bottom of the pit. Barely able to walk, he crawls back to the bridge floor, only to be assaulted by fensast the beetle. His spine is broken. He is but a cripple served on a plate to the beast...

Fensast is flying. Without the ability to grasp a crossbow, the dwarf can do nothing but hope that his friends will show up on time. Even as his equipment protects him from the full force of the extract, he can feel his breath becoming heavier, and more painful with each ounce of air he inhales...

The beast finally falls to the combined might of Whisperwhips' soldiers. To the north, Mebzuth the racoon and his webs await, helped by the newest creature in the caverns, a scary antlion. Four down, a lot more to go...

Next to him, his friend Atir slowly suffers the same fate. It would seem that the dwarves did not survive the combined energy blasts in the end. Everything caugh in it has now perished. dwarves, forgotten beasts, lions and dogs, the cursed gas made no distinction...

The forgotten beasts can navigate the water, while the dwarves cannot. a tunnel is designated to circunvent the river and navigate around, until people remember how to reactivate the bridge crossing the stream. The army is on the move...

While we wait for the bridge to fully extend, the antlion punces on the soldiers, who manage to hold it at bay without too much damage. Their combined barrage iron bolts is enough to give the beast pause, long enough for people to move in and kill the monster...

Mebzuth the racoon knows that the tide has turned for him. the upper caverns are no longer the greatest place to be. He retreats into the river. It matters not. The wilted sack has faced countless foes in these caverns before, and they know all the paths that a swimming beast could take. Some soldiers wait north of the river, others lie in ambush eastward. Should the racoon choose to cross under the bridge and head south, more soldiers wait there too. There is no time to fuck around.

All jobs are cancelled, all miners and woodcutters are summoned downstairs. The peasants are all designated as newbie woodcutters as well. This river bank is getting cleared of trees and pillars alike. Mebzuth will have nowhere to escape. While most of the caverns are overgrown and unreachable, this specific area has been semi-terraformed over the years, to counter hiding beasts. The last mass of land to the north of the river can easily be crossed by ground troops, regardless of trees. Spores won't grow where pillars were once removed, only in sand. If the beast hides in the water, we'll floor it in time.

It won't be necessary. Mebzuth seeks to engage some lonely targets, and jump out of the water. Everyone and their mother show up to the fight and corner it. It webs most of the troops, but people focus his legs, and soon nobody can move from there.

The upper caverns are clear, but there is more killing to be had. Downstairs, more beats lurk in darkened corners of the world. Six forgotten beasts wasn't enough. They must all die. for years the wilted Sack has been dying slowly, unable to influence the outcome. today, the greatest army known to dwarvenkind remembers who they truly are: Unstoppable warriors who trive on bloodshed and despair. Even if this fight could curse all of them, they will go, and confront what lurks ahead. they know that, in the end, dying head on to a curse its better and far more glorious than to simply stay home, and wait for it to consume everything you love over the years. The soldiers remember the glory of old, the tales of Olin the titanslayer, and Asmel the Warrior Princess, of Immortal-D the bird-slayer and all the great heroes of this land. All dwarves must die anyway. Let the bards sing and the generations to come praise the brave souls who ventured foward and did so in the most flamboyant way there is.

The army marches toward the downward passage, where once stood catapults and stockpiles. Now, everything has been trashed to bits. the siege engines, the stockpiles, the doors and every mecanism connecting it all. The plug is removed. The party descends...

This land is alien to us. Part of it is unexplored, and the rest is all but blocked by giant mushrooms. Enemies could come from everywhere, and spreading would be disastrous. Still, the army cannot abandon the ramp too quickly, in case of sneaking monsters. We must thread carefully. A wrong decision could see the army trapped between two devastating aoes.

This flying monster is the most dangerous, for it is mobile. Should it wish so, it will be able to make a bee line for the party at any moment. Let's see if we can snipe one or two monsters before it does so. The treecutters and miners are dispatched to blaze a trail thourgh this inhospitable realm... The army is tied there, for they cannot abandonn them.

Another monster lies in the water, to the west. getting there would be the quickest of all the possible places, but then we'd have to spend a thousand years near the river hoping the beast will show up. we are on a timer. Peple will fal asleep, run thirsty or get tired before long...

Another beast has been trapped by the fungi, but untrapping it would be insane. instead, soldiers are kept on standbye, to deploy one more trap. This creature is surprisingly close to the ramp, so covering the area is simple for the soldiers. some men are getting tired or hungry, so a chain of provision is created to bring food downstairs, as well as beer. It's not like those kids are doing something special anyway...

the flying creature (look i lost count of which is which at this point) is slowly circunventing the volcanic shaft, and moving closer to our soldiers. Our troops are stationed northwest of the lava pit. Now that the dwarves have ventured in these unknown depths, crundles, draltha and monsters of all sort test their might against them, and face their doom. The army is unmatched when it comes to lesser monsters, and it keeps the troops busy, and alert.

Erith is having a hard time dealing with the dead of his farmer friend a few months ago, as well as his two brothers zasit and Atir. He also lost two pets, the sun sickens him, and he can't stocmach all this stupid miasma anymore. He's trowing a tantrum. the first of many to come, I fear, once the soldiers start falling to some unknwon effect. Look, Erith, there is nothing we can do about those anim...

...or you could just straight up murder this rotting lion right here right there. that,s the dwarven way of solving problems. We are sort of in a pickle. I'm too busy contacting the hammerer. The las thing I need is Ustuth walking around with a taste for blood in her eyes right now. Gonna stay focused. Gonna keep the troops alive. gotta chain stockpiles and bring food downstairs.

The swimming beast used the crundle assaults as a diversion, moving around to ambush the party. Thankfully, everyone is on standbye, and open fire the second the monster exits its hidding spot. A short fight follows, making short work of the monster. Mafol gets the kill. Good job, buddy!

Seven down. The priority now is reaching the flyier before it jumps us. there are two ways we can use. either cut a lot of trees and go around using the western ramps, or dig a tunnel to reach the southern side of the volcano. Either path will allow the troops to move further thanks to the large open area. the solution, obviously, is to activate both plans at once... Good opportunity for those peasants to practice their new imposed vocation.

Late as ever, the caravan from the colonies show up. As broker, it is my duty to explain to them how unwelcome they are right now. we have no need of anything, no time to trade, and nobody to haul. Please just leave.

In the meantime, our lack of progress in the caverns means that the flying beast has managed to reach the unknown parts of the tunnels. We cannot see where it is, and have no idea where it,ll strike from. The army splits. Half cover the entrance, the other protect the workers.

As if things didnt go bad right now, a new siege arrives. All the soldiers are downstairs fending off an army of forgotten beasts. This is going to go swimmingly. I don't know how we can ever hope to...

I try to block the place, but cant. Remove the doors, but it doesn't help. We must deconstruct the floor to build a barricade. The statues would create a temporary wall, but one that the trolls would all too easily. To create a barricade, I must remove the statues, then 4 pieces of floor, then build like 5 walls. Instead I just reinstall the doors before they are taken away, and lock them. fuck the traders. They'll soften everything and act as a cushion while I brainstorm something better.

The trolls attack, and are engaged by the caravan guards. That's not a strategy that'll work against the archer army, but it gives me time to think on how disposable these soldiers are to me right now. Suddenly, i have a plan. i will beat this army using my advanced bartering skills.

No, look, I'm serious. I declare the entrance hall a pasture, and trade all the large gems for every single animals they have, and have them insta-pastured right where they are. We don't need to move the gems to the depot, because they are bugged and cant be stockpiled in 34.xx. Suddenly, we have two dozen caravan guards, their war pets, two human elite bodyguards, and enough birds and cats and whatnot to act as canonfodder for the arrows. Rise and shine, my mighty makeshift disposable legion!

instead of being in the caverns, the bronze generals dumbly wanders on the battlefield to grab corpses and dump them as soon as they fall. his decication to not seing any zombies arise is well-timed, as his impromptu desertion from the caverns a week ago means he can lead the charge and break the siege. the guy gives zero fucks. he's just bear wrestling and dismembering everything he comes across to bits. The goblins disband, beffundled by how little fucks we give about fighting them anymore.

Hello, flying monster thing. While the workers were digging and chopping, it went around the volcano to jump them. his position is a godsent, for as little as that means considering Armok's dark nature. it's in a small pond accessible by two points. The beast secretes poison blood, but if it can be killed exactly there, most of the blood will spill a lever below, saving the fortress from the devastating effects of a syndrome.

At the last second, the beast springs out of the water and explodes into a pool of blood right in the middle of the dwarves.

uh oh.

The soldiers know how terrible this could get. they retreat into a large area and wait to see if anything bad happens. after a moment of nothing going wrong, people assume that the blood wasn't as deadly as they feared. Time to move on with the rampage. there are still two monsters to smash around! Protect the miners and woodcutters so that they may clear a path! Everyone is clearly oblivious to how a single bureaucrat just raised a ragtag army of exotic pets to save the fort from goblins. And they laughed at all the exotic animals I purchased over the years, ah!

The diplomat introduces himself to the mayor as she is digging a way around a volcano to murder a giant leech stuck in an obsidian generator, while most of the army is down in the middle of the planet on a crusade against every monster every spawned by the bowels of the earth. Having much to discuss is an understatement here.

It seems the soap production is suboptimal, and I fear we'll need more once people return from the caverns, as I am reminded by this week's toll of dead animals. One dead animal I'm not gonna go to waste is Qamun's corpse. Clear a path and grab the body, kids. Forgotten beast steak has become a delicacy here in the savannah.

Before we can complete our bingo card of slain megabeasts, a new forgotten monster appears, also called Tofi. That's where we're at people. This one is on the second cavern layer, past the western river where one beast lurked previously. Getting to it will require some more tinkering and hard work.

Dig a tunnel, and go around the rocks by cutting trees. Install some bridges while you are at it. we don,t need this sterling silver, so show all those crundles how hilariously wealthy we are at this point. Once access to the west has been achieved, there's still a lot of digging and chopping down to do before we can explore and locate this new Tofi.

With so many forgotten beasts gone, the cavern ecosystem is starting to revert to ''normal''. in addition to crundle packs, a large troop of naked mole dogs are wandering around the entrance to BASE1, disrupting workers and haulers alike. The hunters will get them. I send Ustuth the hammerer, and she grabs her crossbow with that weird glee in her eyes. Meanwhile, the mayor is complaining that while she was in the caverns, someone stole her table. Like, you can't make this up. Plus, this is the third time someone stole her table. People, now is not the time. You know how weird and OCD the mayor is, and we need her focused right now...

The beast is back on the radar, but it'll take some interesting amounts of digging to get to it. This one is a butterfly, so it can wander around and disregard the spore trees that block our way. Hopefully it smells the workers and charge at them, that'll save us some work.

Some surgeon guy decides that now is the time for personal projects (hint: it isn't) and grabs some shitty material, well intent on smashing the record on most disapointing artifact ever produced. I guess anything is better than removing dead Rovod bits at this point.

Oh wow, it's actually something useful. not beautiful, but it's not useless. Usually I'd place the artefact where everyone can see and enjoy it, but I'm sort of busy so I casually order it delivered to the mayor's bedroom so she'll shut the fuck up about the thieft.

Is this for real? The army splits once again, half of them supervising the miners, the other half killing this... whatever. I don,t even care what it is or what it does. just kill it and be done with this thing. There are so many beasts, even suicidal rampages have become a chore.

I am not going to dispatch then thousand woodcutters into the caverns every week. at this point, it's obvious that forgotten beasts are not going to stop flinging themselves at us every other day, so i decide to step up our infrastructure. I want large corridors made of smooth stone and built floors, where nothing will grow. Let's start with the section next to the room. It's cool, i was looking for something to do with all that non-obsidian stone we have lying around.

Meanwhile, the path to Tofi is continued, and soon enough the monster can no longer resist the taste for dwarven flesh. It jumps and... people just throw baby lions at it. no really. this happens. The monster starts to chew on the little megacats while the army charges into position.

Tofi starts by smashing a hammerdwarf around for pleasure. The hammerdwarf is soon joined by his friends, and then the strategy doesn't work so much. Tofi is lured into a small tunnel where it can't fly up, and soon the beating begins.

To be fair it was incredibly epic at the start until murdering tons of megabeasts became more management than heroism. for a pack of 12 beasts, none of them truly had devastating attack, or at ,least none of them survived long enough to use them. By the end I was mostly disapointed, almost hoping that it could have been way more difficult. I expected a story of the ages and instead it was mostly janitor work.

Or so i believed, until I came back home and started noticing, well, complications...

The instant our troops return from the caverns, victorious, a farmer gets in a strange mood and create this magnificient artifact. The noiseless ancient, a bag made of forgotten beast bone, decorated with pictures of monsters, and Deities of death. What an appropriate name! The ancients of this world are now silent, because we fucking killed them and made a purse with their corpse. If any artifact ever reflected the true badassitude of Whisperwhip, this bag does...

Surprisingly, the casualties in the caverns were few. Only two soldiers died during our assault on the coalition of everything ever, including a dwarf who took the full force of three attacks, and Zasit who fell down the well. Two days after their return, however, I'm told that the leader of the Magical Glove died from an infected wound. Everyone mourns his death, but me. the guy was an asshole, and I remember the times he beat me up while in custody too clearly.

This leaves a military captain post vacant, which is bad. Thankfully, Firsal was already considered the perfect replacement by his entire squad. without a second thought, Drokles promote firsal to captain of the magical glove.

his situation deteriorates as blisters start to appear all over his body. Meanwhile across the hall, the dinning room is filled with putrid clouds of miasma that don't seem to end. something is wrong in Whisperwhip. Something came back from the caverns. I should not be surprised. Did we truly expect to defeat twelve forgotten beast and return home without complications?

One thing is certain, we'll need more coffins before this is over. I order the miners to focus their attention on two new rooms for the catacombs, so that we are not forced to dig out space while everyone is dying.

Drokles arrives with some combat reports. The baby, she says, was definitely mauled by naked mole dogs. No clue as for the others, but those creatures are definitely a problem, and need to die. within days of the forgotten beasts' death, those critters have flooded the caverns once more, and now bother easy targets. Strange, we had no problems with them before. I try to understand why, then realise that back in the day we had two full squads stationned in BASE1 at all time, and we actually had a war animal population. Right now, the naked mole dogs are just wandering around and causing all sorts of mayhem in the fortress, and this needs to stop, because people have died.

Forgotten beast. again. fuck this place. Go kill it guys, I suppose. While the woodcutters are busy clearing pathways and the masons are trying to prevent trees from regrowing, our miners are downstairs getting gems from the second layer of caverns. This creature needs to die. We didn't kill all those monsters just to let the ancient creatures take back our caverns just like that. Avengers, assemble, i suppose.

Something terrible happens! As the troops are moving in to kill the new fogotten beast, a pack of miners flee toward them pretending they were attacked by some giant spider thing. Firsal and his troops split from the other squads to deal with the issue promptly. Alas, he is ambushed by the creature, and webbed. Because of the strange layout of the caverns, none of his friends can come and help him right now. the way is obstructed by sticky webs. slowy, viciously, the spider starts to bite firsal and fill him with a deadly venom. From around the corner, his squad can only listen to the fight while Firsal remains there, paralysed and helpless...

The squad finally clears a path and dish out some justice on the spider, but it is too late. Firsal has lost too much blood already, and he won't make it to the hospital. He dies where he stands, while the squad watches, powerless. Besmar takes leadership of the squad, and joins the rest of the soldiers to dispatch the forgotten beast. This spider, however, was only a taste of what's to come. Ambushes, death and webs are on the menu today...

The second the path to the monster is cleared, it webs the troops and delivers the most awe-inspiring of punches, crushing through the helmet and the skull, and shattering the brain of of Mafol the hammerlord. His inert and disfigured corpse flies and breaks against a stone pillar, sending most of his teeth raining down on the soldiers.

This devilish creature is just pummeling thourhg our ranks! Next is Tosid, the holy palladin, who falls to a punch to the face, shattering his brain. Because of the webs, the soldiers have a hard time dodging, and only their equipment can prevent injuries. alas, not all of our gear is top notch. Few of the soldiers actually wear some steel equipment, if any. High quality iron breastplate is the best we can hope for with no flux stone and no traders most of the time... Our metalsmiths did a fine job with the steel they could gather, but there is only so much to go around...

If only we had adamantine... Asmel always told stories of the fabled metal...

the creature breezes thourhg the webbed soldiers, intent on running toward the fort and leaving them there. an heroic soldier manages to break the hold and block the beast's path, keeping it amidst the army.

All is not well, tho. Shortly after, another soldier succumbs from the mysterious curse that has already claimed 3. There is no rest for the wicked, however, as nearby more dangerous beasts have appeared. Ursist puts his helmet back on, and readies his spear. The army has been stressed and overworked lately. There are hardly any free time for them anymore, between goblins, forgotten beasts and annoying infestations of animals.

Inspired by their lament, another cook becomes posessed, and starts to work on an artifact of his own. it is an obsidian cabinet, depicting the fundation of Whisperwhip, with laboring dwarves. This piece is placed in the middle of BASE1, in the dinning room, to remind every soldier of why they fight. Many dwarves worked long and hard to create this now fabled and legendary place. Farmers, crafters, cooks and miners, all of them worked day and night to create this place. The army must now go through the same amount of stress and work, but it is a part they must play to keep Whisperwhip alive.

I take a moment to evaluate our objectives, and our situation. We are now currently at war with an everending flow of critters and megabeasts, which means the army is busy all the time and can't be counted on to fulfill any extra-curricular activities. the masons and miners are in the caverns ensuring that we can actually move around without getting strangled by mushrooms, and most of the useless peasants were drafted as woodcutters for the same effect.

The end result is that nothing is getting made beside the cavern defense. The corpses are pilling up, and so are the pointless items. Outside, the savannah is once again a valey of blood and torn rags that nobody can afford to pick up. Even the generator we fought so hard to reclaim is now offline, because nobody can reliably activate and close the floodgates in a timely fashion... not enough iddlers. We'd probably need to train more soldiers, but then even less things would get done.

This one is too close for confort, so I immediately orders the alarm activated. Everyone is coming back to the fortress, as I don,t want anyone stuck between the monster and the base once it moves foward. Drokles gathers her soldiers and mobilise in the caverns...

The beast immediately hides in the water, as to avoid our crossbow bolts of doom. In a strange twist of irony, the miners and woodcutters were preparing to clear this exact bank to prevent such a situation. It's too late now, and removing the alarm would prompt some workers to gather webs or hunt or fish, and they would be easy pickings for this monster. Araz Oggez is lurking in the lake, and we must spread our troops once more to catch it as it emerges. This has hapened in the past many times. the fight will either happen here, or to the east on a small peninsula where we faced various monsters, including the dreaded Rifi...

The beast chooses to emerge on the northwest bank, just as the soldiers began to spread! The initial volley of bolts from the nearby fighters is enough to put quite some pain on the beast, but it respond by hurling clouds of fire on us!

The beast perishes shortly after, after beeing ganked by many dwarves. something strange and evil then happens. The corpse, it... it catches on fire, spreading flammes all around. The walls are ablaze. the ground is ablaze. Everything burns. The soil is made of mossy beds of fungi, and the fire spreads instantly.

for the dwarves nearby, there is no escape. The only escape paths are ablaze. they are stuck there. some escape before the situation worsens, but for Mosus, death is the way out. His screams echo in the cavern, his corpse consumed like a torch as he tries to flee the battle.

As for Unib, her injuries are too great. She runs from the pyre, but her body is covered in burns and blisters, and her stranght leaves her. She bleeds to death in those caverns, where so many like her have before.

Two corpses added to the list, a testament to dwarven folly. To take what lurks beneath the earth, and claim it as ours, was not how Armok must have intended it. Some would call these deaths meaningless, foolish, and inevitable... Part of it is definitely true. But what other choice do we have? This cursed savannah has bled us dry, sacked our will to live, tested our might and our resolve. to abandon our quest to beat the horrors of this world would make al our sacrifices void. Only through our doomed crusade against the world do we justify our existence. Whisperwhip has made Quula shiver, and Armok smile. The gods themselves cannot remain indiferrent when they gaze upon our actions.

Drokles herself has been sharing my point of view lately. She used to be fatalistic, and in a way she still is. Yet, killing all those monsters have changed her mind on certain things. she knows that in time we will all die horribly, but just like we all do, she now knows that when this is all over, people will remember our tales, and sing our names. we are doing what few, if any dwarves, have ever done. We are laughing in the face of the world, and the worst creatures it coudl ever design.

The corpse of Araz Oggezz still burns, intent on emitting heat and smoke for all eternity. With some luck, the next forgotten beasts will arrive from there and suffer the consequences. This has, after all, been a major gateway to Whisperwhip in the past for all kinds of strange creatures. I leave a message to drokles, that the soldiers probably should remain clear of the area and wait for stuff to brave the fire. I'm told this can't be done.

Drokles has been missing. she has not been seen since the fight, and nobody saw her coming out the fire. Once most of the fungi floor is extinguished, i send some workers to investigate. in the meantime, captain Atir is temporarily in charge of the troops...

The workers search and search, but in vain. Drokles' equipment is found, but of her corpse nothing remains. She must have been the closest to the beast when it died, giving her no chance to escape. None saw her die, because the place was so filled with smoke and flames. Our militia commander is dead, gone, her body utterly disintegrated.

* * *OOC:

Things are happening. Not fluff and unicorns. Bad things. I have about 200 screenshots still waiting to make it into this thread, and spoiler alert this is just the beginning. We've lost two named dwarves this chapter, and it's fairly possible that this will happen again. If you want to get re-dwarfed into the story, post-posthumously or pre-emptively, just pm me and specify what role you'd like. That way your new dwarves will enter the narrative much sooner...

Well, people are sad. Really sad. Maybe the key to getting through our own suffering is to inflict suffering on others? Maybe, maybe not. but those goblins in cages have clothes, and it's easier to grab than going outside and getting ambushed. Mayor, link some cages to some levers. Everyone, get in the theater. Look at all those goblins dying and leaving clothes behind! Aren't we happy? isn't that fun? Look at how many of our soldiers are still totally alive!

People witness some carnage, and return to their lives. workers work and soldiers train. They certainly don't, like, guard the place because a goblin just entered the fucking barracks. The security in Whisperwhip is terrible. Shameful is what it is.

Vathi doesn't fuck around. He instantly rushes toward the entrance of the caverns, seeking to enter the fort. Thankfully the troops are ready to meet it on the field. By ready i mean, one guy is and everyone else is running around grabbing their armor.

Sometimes people die in gruesome fashions against those forgotten beasts, but that's alright because they get sweet memorials. Well, thiose who vanish and threaten to return as ghosts do. There you go, Drokles!

sometimes the crafters make some other things. Like... mushroom earrings. Thanks, guys, for... whatever this is. Actually, this isn't such a bad item, in terms of art, it,s just a shame that I have to take the word of the creator for it, because its a fucking earring made of mushroom and i have no way of actually seeing the details on it. yes, it,s about quula and elves and dragons, okay. Sure.

Oh hey, it's been another week! Cue the new monster! what the fuck is this, X-files? This one's named Amas, and apparently it breathes deadly dust, which you'd think would be bad for one's overall respiratory system.

The soldiers get their stuff and prepare for another battle. Amas is coming from the same area where we faced the burning monster. Even now, its corpse still burns and fills the place with a thick, choking smoke cloud. The beast could be standing where Drokles died and we couldn't even tell.

As some soldiers approach the burning area, the forgotten beast jumps out of the river, and the fight begins! a thick spray of dust rises in the cave, and fills the battleground, mixing with the smoke nearby. It's incredibly tough to know what is happening. The dust may be deadly, or it may not...

Thankfully this one spawned far away in the second layer of caverns, and nobody is working there... for now. We'll have some time to bash Amas before it gets to us. Hopefully. After examining the area, it seems that the newcomer cannot get to us by land, so it'll need to swim, for it now inhabits a faraway peninsula overgrown with mushrooms.

Meanwhile on the level above, the battle rages on! The dust seems to come equipped with some devastating knockback effect. Everyone hit by the attack is violently propelled far away against obstacles. amas is caugh in every single blast it unleashes, and hurts itself in the process ever so slightly. It doesn't care. It's using the same strategy a newb Charizard player would in a multiplayer match: Just spam flare blitz nonstop.

It's tough to understand what's going on even with the combat logs because seriously look at this combat you guys. Every time the dust settles, people are in a different place, including amas itself. Once the troops catch up their breath, or get up from a prone position, they try to close in on the beast and dish out some damage. With every new blast of deadly dust, Amas knocks them away, and itself in the process.

here's the general, in a normal moment of this encounter. He's stunned, also unconscious, and apparently something in the dust is starting to induce a fever in him. That's just great! He's not a special case either, this is mostly what everyone is going through right now. The fight is taking a while, and at this rate everyone has been infected by whatever this fever thing is.

Bomrek manages to recuperate fast enough from the dust, but he's been injured in various ways by the repeated collisions. He tries to save his friends, but in vain. In the thick cloud of smoke and dust, he can make out the sounds of people dying slowly. His friend Deduk, as well as the new captain of the magical glove, deduk. We've lost 3 captains of the magical gloves in as many weeks which is I think a bad sign.

Amas is hurt, but some of the injuries appear to be healing, or at least not getting worse. The beast has a hardcore resistance to collisions, and a supernatural ability to healing, meaning that all those jhealth issues its causing for itself are slowly replacing each other, not adding up. We need to focus fire or this bitch will kill us all and walk away.

I send people to seal the dumping shaft from the rest of the caverns, and order the door sealed as well. We... hum... I don't feel this one.

We are always so close to killing this bitch, yet every time, the soldiers get knocked aside and stunned briefly. Their injuries are not healing either. Broken hands, smashed feet and crushed ribs are starting to add up. I'm afraid we don't have the damage output we need right now!

Another death is added to the toll. Angry Asmel, just like Zasit the mighty, was slain by a forgotten beast before we could ever give him the title of champion he so desired. His corpse joins with the others, and begin flying around in the caverns with every dust impact. Keeping track of the corpses is hard. Everything is moving. Who's alive, and who's dead, nobody is really sure, not under this smoke. Not under this constant spray of dust...

Blood, discarded equipment pieces, vomit, corpses, smoke, dust, dwarves, shurbs... nothing makes sence. the battleground is a mess of living and dead things enterwined and ever-shuffling. In this chaos that we dare call a fight, more corpses join the list. However, something much more terrible is about to happen. the fight has shifted, ever so slightly. To the south...

Bomrek, the most solid fighter in the lot as we speak, has been knocked aside, unconscious and... in the river. Unless he can regain consciousness in the coming minutes, he will drown. A terrible fate lingers over his head. They say drowning is the worst way to go, the most painful. some would argue about that after they've seen some of the curses affecting this place, yet... Drowning is not a fate one would wish upon a soldier as heroic as Bomrek. Get out, get out!

amas doesn't even care. the amounts of fucks it gives is non-existent. As long as he is alive, he can continue to breath the dust, and no amount of bruises and little cuts will stop that. It is laughing, stopping its onslaught here and there to watch the drowning dwarf give up on life little by little.

Atir's leg now floats in the lake, separated from the associated militia commander. I have a feeling that this post too is now vacant. There is hardly anyone to give orders in this mess anymore. Ironically, there isn't many people left conscious to hear them.

Then the beast reappears. Many of the soldiers are holding on to its body to avoid being blown away with each attack. In response, the beast has propelled the dust downward, knocking everyone up in the air for a moment. The land with a loud ''thuck'', then everything rolls into the underwater lake. Oh no. Just, no. Atir, the Bronze general, and about 5 other soldiers are stuck in there. They are not doing well. They are underwater. With a forgotten beast. Stunned.

A brave hammerlord tries to change fate, and save his friends. His attacks won't do much to the creature, sadly. His telltale hammer has been scattered by the melee, and he must rely on his kicks. soon enough comes another cloud of dust. The party explodes out of the water, collides with the cavern's ceiling, and dives back into the cold, dark waters.

This is the true face of Whisperwhip, the fate that awaits those who settle here. Not a glorious battle or a quick end. Everything will wither and die, slowly. The greatest warriors to ever march on this continent now lie at the bottom of a dark and unforgiving lake, and one by one, they drown. One by one, they die.

Amas emerges from the depths, healthier than it was before the dive. There is no need to continue the fight in the lake. The fate of its enemies is sealed. Those who still live name the beast Spithole, because frankly this is not a situation where being clever comes easily. The leaders may be dead, but some soldiers remain. During the underwater clash, some of them managed to regroup, and recover from their blunt trauma problems.

It is their duty and destiny to end Amas Spithole, drowner of many. Nobody is coming to help them. Everyone else is gone. They know that any injury they score must be deep and vital, for without crippling scars, the beast will simply slaughter them and move on with its life.

The fortress has been sealed. a fever runs deep in those who still stand. most of them are now crippled. This is no longer about protecting Whisperwhip. This is no longer about reclaiming the caverns. This isn't even about survival.

The greatest drug now runs through the dwarves veins. Deadlier than poison, hotter than the fiery blood of Armok.

''Regroup!!'' Screams Vabok the spearmaster as he jumps on the creature, driving it back in the lake. ''Get up!'' he yells as he dives into the cold flow, amidst the floating remains of upper management.

Spearmaster and forgotten beast plummet underwater, locked in a battle of the ages. Around them, dozens of swords, maces and random objects are clashing around, hitting everything back and forth. The dust mixes with the current, creating a deadly tornado of steel and silver. Vabok isn't doing much, but he's buying his friends more time.

Amas spithole emerges once more. Vabek the spearmaster isn't with it. Where a dwarf once latched, one can now found various stabs and deep cuts. Vabek understoood the creature's weakness: itself, and it's overconfidence. It has latched to the beast vigoriously, and tricked the beast into hurting itself, cutting itself, slamming itself. Vabek has paid for this heroic gesture with his life, but as Amas exits the pool, its new injuries are apparent. It's now or never, the remaining dwarves know.

As the final assault triggers, the dwarves on the surface are starting to lose hope. It has been too long since anyone reported. They know that if nobody comes knocking on the barricade soon, they won't ever. It has been a week, and people are starting to rule the whole army as dead.

Amas Spithole, the washed Spurt. With each kill, its glory grows, and so does his name. In the name of any who should survive this fight, and in the hearh of any who hear the tales of this encounter, this is a name that will strike true terror and awe, for generations to come.

Hours pass. Days pass. Injuries heal, others appear. dwarves die. Some fall, others regain consciousness. This is the greatest battle that has ever raged. amas still stands, but in the rare glimpses that some can get between the knock outs, the clouds of smoke and the blinding dust attacks, some begin to think that they can win. The beast is now blind from one eye. If they can corner it... attack from behind... If only there could be more than one of them standing at once.

The dwarves gather once more. Adrenaline, hatred and rage flows through their vein, where the blood was before they lost it all. Few of them have any weapons left. Or limbs. Those who remain are starting to feel the effects of the fever. nobody can think straight. Corner it, corner it, flank it! is that eye regrowing? Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck!

Another dust of cloud. The army scatters once more. Coma, fever, dizzyness, smoke. Blood loss. nothing makes sence anymore. This is the end.

Nobody but Momuz. In a last ditch effort, he charges the beast, and breaks its brain with the mightiest of punches. Around him, dead dwarves, sick dwarves, drowned dwarves, mutilated dwarves, kocked out dwarves. Nothing makes sence. his head is shaking, spinning. he can't see clearly. Why is he here... Wasn't he a simple farmer?

No! That was years ago. He remembers! Focus, momuz, focus! You were in a fight. Everyone is down but you. And the beast....

Under him lies Amas Spithole, the washed spurt. Nothing more than a warm corpse now. The beast is dead. The beast is dead!